KRC's tag line: "World Fastest Karting School"
Summary
of the 1999 Summer/Fall
KRC Cup Kart Racing Series
"Our
Rookie Season"
KRC's tag line: "World Fastest Karting School"
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After
our last KRC Cup Race (which was our first race ever in a Tony Kart), we were
starting to get an understanding how difficult this sport can be.
Racing karts is pretty tough. It
is one of those things that looks easy, but is extremely difficult to be among
the fastest karters. And humbling.
You think you are fast and a good racer?
Then get your ass in a good karting series, and then you will quickly
learn how much more you need to learn. And
how weak and worthless your body has become racing cars.
Meaning that karting is extremely hard on your body, and you will quickly
learn that you are way out of shape. And how slow you are driving a six
speed shifter kart
Wayne
and I missed the first race of the Summer/Fall KRC Championship, which was held at the
Amago Kart Track. We were in Europe
at the time. So the next event for
Karting was the Irvine Spectrum Momo Grand Prix.
The promoters of the event setup a big, probably ½ mile long, karting
track in the parking lot using hay bales. This
was a big event. We run in the KRC
Cup Series, and we were just one of about 9 groups of karters that were racing
at this event. It kinda looked like
the size of the pits in the Long Beach Grand Prix, as there were probably 200+
karters that were here for the race, and easily a couple of thousand fans.
Wayne, Jeff, and I are going to see who can get the most points for the
season, to determine who is the best driver among the three of us.
My Tony kart - red, six speed, #55, just like the Flamemobile
Wayne
thought that by karting, he would reduce his expenditures on racing.
In reality, we just added to the racing expenses, since we still race our
cars. For example, we get really
tired and sweaty in a kart race, and it is because we are wearing our three
layer, fire proof Nomex road racing suits.
So we decided to get the lightweight, breathable karting suits.
There goes another $200 bucks. And
we need karting gloves. And a cool
karting stopwatch that allows you to time four people at the same time.
Thank God we
can’t soup up the karts as it is a spec series, and everyone drives
the same type of kart, with everyone weighing in at 385 lbs including the
kart. Otherwise we would really be throwing out more money on this
racing habit.
There
are some other things to watch out for in karting. There is a big problem with ribs. Meaning severely bruised ribs, separated ribs, and even
broken ribs from the impact of the kart seat (karts have no springs or shocks)
pounding into your ribs on the high-g turns and bumps.
It seems that 40% of the people who kart have problems with their ribs
hurting after their first race, and 10% of the people have their ribs hurting so much
that makes it so they miss the next race.
I was having problems with my seat, in that I felt that it wasn’t snug
enough, which means that my body was moving way too much in high-g turns.
The karting instructors kept telling me not to have so much body motion
in the kart, but I found it impossible to get comfortable.
Wayne was having a similar problem.
Most of us wear some type of vest to protect the ribs, Wayne and I were
just borrowing some loaners from KRC.
Wayne's Kart. Fly Yellow, like his F355
The
Momo Grand Prix at the Irvine Spectrum - Race #2 in the Series - August 27-29, 1999
All the karting vendors were there. Some
women were selling the Ribtec vest, which they claimed to be the most
comfortable vest for karting. Wayne
was chatting with them, and asked how much the vest was.
They wanted $225, and Wayne almost fainted.
He told them they were crazy if he was going to pay that much for a
stupid vest. Then one of the
girls there said, “Here, try it for free in your next practice session, and we
guarantee it will make you faster”. Wayne
borrows a vest, and then promptly runs two seconds faster!
He credits the vest for faster time, ignoring the fact that maybe it was
because this was his second time out on the track, and maybe he is just going
faster. In any event he forks over
$225, and is a happy customer. I
tell him he is an idiot for paying that much for a vest.
However, my ribs are starting to hurt more and more, to the point where
is it kinda painful to sit in the kart. I
have this hard seat with some foam rubber taped into the seat to try to make it
fit my body. And this ain’t
working. I ordered a Tillet seat
from KRC, but it still hasn’t come in yet.
I break down, and head over to the Ribtec tent, and ask if I can also
borrow a vest for the next practice session.
The vest is pretty stiff, it kinda forces you to sit up straight.
It does make the kart more comfortable, and it does make me a little
faster. I fork over $225.
Thousands of people at the Momo Grand Prix of Karting in Irvine
The Momo Grand Prix is one of the bigger events for karting in the area. A temporary course is setup in the parking lot with hay bales, and probably 200+ karters showed up to race in one of the 11+ classes. A lot of these people had their own EZ-UP tent, so the pit area was huge. Probably about 2000+ people were in the stands to watch the various races. They ranged from little 6 year old kids in their single speed karts, up to professionals with their highly modified, six speed 125cc karts. The KRC folks got our race to be one of the 11 races on the card for Saturday's activities.
This
is the first race for us out of the five race Cup Series, of which you can drop
the results of one race. So
everyone counts their points for just four races to see who is king. Prior to this race, Jeff takes a private karting lesson from
Ryan, who works for KRC and is a former karting champion.
Jeff says that the lesson helped him tremendously, and says that he
recommends it. Wayne and I figure
we can try to wing it without the private lesson.
Jeff DNFs in his kart race at the race at Amago, so he gets no points.
Since Wayne and I skipped the Amago race, we all are forced to drop the
first race, and all our points count for the next four races.
Course is lined with cones and hay bales
It
turns out in qualifying for this race, Wayne and I suck. Out of 18 people entered in our race, I qualify 16th,
and Wayne qualifies 15th. Maybe we do need a private lesson.
Or maybe we just suck. Jeff
qualifies 11th. True, we
are rookies, and this is only our 2nd karting race ever, but
still…..we are not used to being at the back of the pack.
Green
flag drops for the main event, and Wayne gets a good start.
Everyone is barreling into turn 1 at the end of the straight.
There is contact, and I see Wayne flying into the hay bales.
See ya Wayne! He has to be
pushed to be restarted, as he was terribly unskilled and stalled the kart after
he crashed. I make it through turn 1 without any incident, and start to try to dial in
my pace. At least I will kick
Wayne’s ass in this race. Jeff is
pretty far out front, and I don’t think I can catch him.
This is an extra long race, it is 30 laps. After 10 laps, I am exhausted, but I know I can still beat
Wayne, as he is as out of shape as I am.
20 laps down, 10 to go. I come ripping into turn 1, and bonehead and I brake too late and spin the cart. Ooops. Stalled the engine. Damn. What an amateur. I get push started by someone on the side of the track. Wayne zips by me as I am gathering my senses. I am just not sure if I passed Wayne once, or if I passed Wayne twice. Official final results have me gridded in front of Wayne. Wayne is furious. I tell him that the only thing that counts is the official printout, not what he “thinks” the final results was. I end up coming in 12th place out of 18, and Wayne is 13th. Jeff does pretty good, and comes in 6th place. Points are awarded by giving first place 25 points, 2nd place 24 points, 3rd place 23 points, etc. If you DNF, you get 0 points.
What
I learned after this race: Make
sure you properly adjust your front/rear braking bias. And do it for every session.
I set it to what I thought it should be in the morning session, but I am
told that how it was in the morning ain’t how it will be in the afternoon.
From now on, I will set the bias to put almost all the braking to the
front of the car, which in theory, should make it so I don’t have a nasty spin
when braking deep into the turn. The fast guys in our KRC Cup
series also entered their karts to run against some of the pro kart drivers, who
have modified engines and better tires. And the KRC guys did very well,
running in 3rd or 4th position for much of the race. Which adds credence
to KRC's motto, "World's Fastest Karting School".
Standings after two of the five races is:
Jeff – 20 points
Doug
– 14 points
Wayne
– 13 points
Willow
Springs Kart Track – KRC Race #3 in the Series - September 20, 1999
We
are supposed to meet at 7:30 a.m. at the track. However, Jeff is also racing in
his SCCA Sports 2000 regional race at Buttonwillow Raceway.
Jeff’s plan is that he is going to run his Sports 2000 car in the races
at Buttonwillow in the morning, and when the final S2000 race is done, drive a
couple hours down to Willow Springs and enter the kart race.
He will miss the karting qualifying, so he will have to start at the back
of the pack, but he figures he can still do some damage and pass a lot of
people, and he is planning on passing me and Wayne, as we still suck at this
sport. And if Jeff is successful at
doing well at the S2000 race and he also kicks our ass from the back of the pack
in karts, he will be gloating about it big time.
Wayne
is late as usual. Apparently he had
a hot date in Lancaster, and didn’t get to bed late. He woke up late, missed the early morning practice session,
but figures he is a “Professional”, and he doesn’t need a lot of practice.
During
qualifying, I run my fastest lap ever, at 44.81 or so.
Considering that I started out running 46’s and 47’s, I feel like I
am making some progress. However, I am only gridded 9th out of 17 or so.
But at least instead of being at the back of the pack, I have now worked
my way up to mid pack. The fast guys are running low 43’s. Ouch. And they
run low 43 lap times within tenths of a second time after time. My average times are probably in the mid 45’s.
Damn. I suck.
But at least I am gridded in front of Wayne. He sucks more.
Jeff with his Prancing Horse Helmet.
For
the sprint qual race, green flag drops, and I make it through the first turn
without wiping out. I am following
Mark and Steve, and I try to hang with them.
Only problem is that everytime I make a mistake, like I shift incorrectly
or I get out of shape around a turn, they get another 8 feet in front of me.
Multiply this by 10, and suddenly they are now unreachable unless they
spin. I pickup a spot or so
in this qualifying race, so now I am gridded 8th for the big race.
Giacamo's cool looking Ferrari-esque Kart
Wayne,
on the other hand, had a little problem in the qualifying race.
He was fighting it out with Giacamo, who is the owner of Ferrari of
Beverly Hills. Giacamo has what
looks like a brand new kart, and he also got these cool
Ferrari-esque sidepods that make his kart look more Italian than our karts.
It is of course painted red, and immaculate, just like all the Ferraris
that he sells out of his shop. I
mean this kart is in perfect condition. Think
of it like a brand new 360 Modena that was just delivered off the show room
floor. Wayne was trying to make a
pass on Giacamo. Giacamo went wide
into a turn, and Wayne came underneath on the inside.
But in karting, it is extremely difficult to see what is behind you.
Someone can literally be six inches off your bumper for many laps, and
you will NEVER see him as the karts don’t have side view mirrors (illegal), and most of
us can’t do a Linda Blair and turn our head around 180 degrees.
Giacamo didn’t see Wayne making his move on the inside, and Giacamo
dove towards the apex. Wayne saw
what was happening, and tried to give him as much room as possible, but
Wayne’s kart hit the candy stripped curbing, launched up in the air, and landed….you
guessed it, on the rear half of Giacamo’s pristine kart, damaging the sidepods
and totaling the radiator.
Now Wayne is my friend. But I have to get my F355 serviced, maintained, and repaired at Giacamo’s shop. During the break between this race and the main race, I maintain my distance from Wayne…..after all, I don’t want MY repair bill jacked up 100% because I know the guy who wrecked the Owner of Ferrari of Beverly Hills' kart.
Jeff
shows up late, and is in a bad mood as he didn’t have a good race in the Sports
2000. He starts off by complaining
that Wayne and I had to be push started at the Momo Grand Prix after we
wrecked/spun out, and he thought
that was illegal, and we should not be awarded points. He said that when he stalled at Amago in the first race of
the season, they would not let him push start the kart, and as a result, he
received no points. Ryan of KRC
says he did not see us getting push started, so he didn’t penalize us for it,
and plus there was lots of room and plenty of people to safely push start us,
unlike the conditions at Willow Springs or Amago.
I tell Jeff that any protests on points much be submitted to scoring
within 24 hours of the incident, not three weeks later.
Jeff feels that Wayne and I cheated to get points, as he is determined to
win the series. A ruling is made,
and Wayne and I get points for the Momo race. Tough luck Jeff, we are
still contenders!
The
KRC guys manage to get some parts and fix Giacamo’s kart so he can run the
final race. Both he and Wayne will
be starting from the back of the pack, with Giacamo 12th, Wayne 13th,
and Jeff 14th, since he showed up late and didn’t run the qual
race. I am gridded 8th.
I check out the field, and am determined not to let Jeff pass me, or the
humiliation will be unbearable…..
The boys hanging out right before the race in the KRC support trailer.
Green
flag drops, and we are off. This
race turns out to be a pretty clean race, and there is no real contact on the
track between any karts. Coming
around one of the turns halfway through the race, I see Wayne spun off again,
with his kart stalled. So he is now
a DNF, with zero points for the weekend. I see Jeff trying to make
his way from the back of the pack, but it ain’t gonna happen today.
I end up finishing 8th, maintaining my qualifying position,
and Jeff finishes 10th.
What
I learned this race: I suck at
this. I need to get a private
lesson(s).
Total
points standings after race 3:
Jeff
- 36
Doug
– 32
Wayne
- 13
Practice at the Streets of Willow Springs -
Somewhere around early October 1999 on a weekday
Race four is at a new track for most of us.
At Willow Springs, there are three tracks, a karting track, the Streets of Willow Springs, and the Big
Track. The Streets of Willow
Springs is used for a lot of driving training classes and racing classes for
newbies in their cars. It is about
1.2 miles long or so. It is really
hard on cars, as there are lots of tight turns, lots of braking, and a first
gear turn (at least in my car). But
we get to race our karts on this track! This
is a much more high speed track, as compared to the “technical” karting
track at Willow Springs.
Jeff and I get there for practice with about four other guys. Most of the
people in the series practice at least a couple days a month, and it is always
on a weekday. Which means they are telling their employers, their
customers, their wives, etc, "Hey, tomorrow I have morning meeting that
won't be done until 1:00 p.m. or so". In other words, everyone is
ditching work to get some extra practice in on the other guys.
Now all these guys are pretty much kicking my ass on the technical track.
But the Streets of Willow Springs is more like a “road racing track”,
so I feel pretty comfortable here. I
am throwing the kart into the sweeper turns, doing suicide braking at the last
minute, and powering up the hill.
In other words, here I can drive the kart like my NSX, instead of driving it
like a stupid little 125cc kart. I mean, real men race cars, right? We
run about six practice sessions, and between the six of us, I run the fastest
lap there (despite what Jeff may try to say on his website, I clearly remember
running a 58.45, which is faster than his best time in practice) until Scott
beats it in the very last session. My
confidence is restored. I CAN be a
contender. Wayne is unable to go to
this practice session. Wayne has been missing 1-2 days of work each week due to
karting or car racing events, and his employees are starting to get pissed that he gets to take off so
much time during the week.
The
Streets of Willow Springs – Race #4 in the Series - October 16, 1999 - IKF
Gearbox Nationals
For
this race, we have eleven guys show up for the race, the smallest field ever.
Not sure why this happened, but my guess is that some of them wimped out
because at this track, you hit about 87 MPH halfway down the main straightaway,
which is a LOT faster than at the other karting tracks.
The gearing is changed for all the karts to compete on this track, and 87
MPH is the max we can go. In
qualifying, I choke a bit, and only qualify 7th out of 11, but I
think if a lot more people would have been there, maybe I would have been 7th
out of 20. (Yeah right). Jeff qualifies 5th, Wayne qualifies last, in 11th
place, right behind Giacamo. Now I
am feeling pretty good about this race, as I feel I have a chance to do well.
Green flag drops, and I blow the start. In
karting, you have to power brake, give it some gas, slowly release the clutch
until it grabs, power on the gas,
until you get max adhesion for a good start. I let out the clutch too quickly, the kart bogs down, and two
people blow by me. DAMN!
In karting, qualifying is EVERYTHING, as it is difficult to pass people,
since everyone has the same power to weight ratio.
I pass one of the guys in front of me.
There is an incident and two of the front runners are out of the race.
I do a quick calculation, and I think I am in fifth place, and I can see
Jeff is ahead of me, but at least he ain’t pulling on me like he does at the
other track. For laps 11-18(out of
20 laps), Greg is right on my butt. I see him coming out of the turn right
behind me before the straightaway for an
instant, but then I lose sight of him as he is a couple of feet off my bumper,
doing 87 mph up the straight into the braking zone.
I pull on him a big in the uphill sweeper turn, as I am using to being on
the power and throwing a car in to the turn, but he catches up on the more
technical turns. On lap 19, I botch a shift coming out the turn right before
the straight, and Greg capitalizes on it and passes me. So now I am right on his ass for one more lap, fighting for 5th
place. I am almost on top of him,
desperately trying to find a way around him and get my rightful position back.
Through the technical portion, I am right on his bumper, but coming out
the last turn, I can’t take him down. Greg
finishes 5th, and I finish 6th.
Wayne was fighting it out with Giacamo again.
Giacamo was right on his butt for a good portion of the race.
Wayne was trying to run as fast as possible on the ragged edge to keep
Giacamo behind him. Giacamo ends up
spinning off and DNFing, but Wayne still thought Giacamo was right on his butt,
pressuring him to go faster. Wayne succumbs to the pressure of the Ghost of Giacamo, and ends up spinning and
DNFing, and then he realizes that there was no one behind him pressuring him to go
faster. He could have cruised it
home and picked up some points. Jeff
has his best race of the karting season, and takes 3rd place, so he
makes it to the podium for a champagne bath, just like they do in Formula 1.
Jeff gets a podium finish. I am still trying to crack the top 5, Wayne
is still trying to crack the top 10
What
I learned at this race:
I need to get better at starts, and I need to get better with the technical,
slower turns, and figuring out how to master adhesion.
You don’t want the kart to scrub off speed in a turn, yet you also need
to carry lots of speed at the same time. If
you can execute a quick four wheel drift in and out of some of the quicker,
tight turns, so the tires slightly "chirp", you are probably
doing it right. If you are
constantly sawing at the wheel trying to maintain grip, you are losing time.
If you get the back end out of shape, you are losing time.
If you aren’t trail braking at the last minute, you are losing time.
If you aren't' immediately on the gas PRIOR to the apex, your are probably
losing time.
Points after race 4 of 5:
Jeff - 59
Doug
- 52
Wayne
- 13
Wednesday Night, October 27th.
A friend calls from northern California. He says that he can get me a
backstage pass and one good ticket to the Springsteen concert in Oakland.
Shit. I already reserved my first private go-kart lesson for tomorrow
morning, which means I have to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to get to the track.
If I get up that early (which means about 2-3 hours of sleep), drive two hours
out to the track, practice four hours, drive two hours back, get on a plane, fly
up to Oakland/SF, rent a car, hookup and get the ticket, and make it to the
arena, I will be so exhausted I won't enjoy the show. I could try to
cancel the lesson, but if the KRC guys don't the message, and they drive out to
Willow, they will be pissed. If I don't get the private lesson, Jeff will
for sure kick my ass this weekend. Damn. I have to decline the
backstage pass.....hopefully that once in a lifetime opportunity will come up
again
Practicing for the final race - Thursday, October 28th.
Okay, the last race of the season is at Willow Springs on the technical go-kart
track. In looking at the standings,
I am crushing Wayne. Jeff and I are running neck and neck.
I say that, because Jeff is only six points ahead of me, which means six
places in this next race. I decide
that now is time that I take a private lesson with Rudy, another karting champ,
who runs the KRC program. Now all
karts have to be the same, you can’t modify them.
But this is practice. The
difficult thing about karting is that it is hard to get feedback.
There are no two-seater karts, so you really can’t ride as a passenger
to see and feel how a "Professional" drives a kart like you can do in regular race
car like my NSX. So how do you
accelerate the learning curve of karts?
I
decide that I will wire up my kart with the two-way radios that we use in the
NSX for the car races, and I will give Henry, another KRC employee, a radio and headset. This way,
after every turn, Henry can say, “No, you are too slow, no you got the wrong
line, no you are sawing at the wheel too much, etc.”. Dave is also supposed to be at the track, but he cancels, so
I actually have two instructors at the track with me, Henry and Rudy. Pretty cool, double the instruction at the same time. I
give Rudy another radio and our second headset, and now we are ready for some
reason lessons. As we
are about to start, Rudy says that Jeff heard that I am getting a full private
lesson with two instructors, as Dave cancelled. When Jeff found out about this, he immediately came up with
some excuses for his employer, and CANCELLED his morning meetings so he could attend the
"private" training. Jeff is intensely
competitive, and he doesn’t want anyone getting an edge on him, just like me
and Wayne. So instead of me getting a full on double instructor private lesson, I
share the time with Jeff. But this
now means that Jeff pretty much has taken TWO private lessons for the season
compared to my one private lesson. Cheating bastard.
Anyways,
I bring out all this high tech equipment, radios, headsets, push to talk
switches, and then I realize that I left the good radio earplugs for my helmet
in the glove box of the NSX, and instead I have these crummy plugs with static
that allow me to hear only every other word that Rudy and Henry are saying to
me. Oh well, so much for a
technological edge…
The private lesson works well for me. I drop another half second off my fastest time, so now I am running 44.26 as my fastest laptime. The fast guys are running low to mid 43’s depending on track conditions, so I am slowly getting there. At least I won’t have to worry about them lapping me in a 20 lap race.
I get home at 2:00 p.m. from karting. And promptly fall asleep for four hours. I would have never made it to the Springsteen concert.
Willow Springs Karting Track - Race #5, The Final Race
for the KRC CUP World Championship - October 30, 1999
So
here we are for the world championship, at least in our minds.
In the points race, Jeff is tied for sixth place with 58 points in his
first season of karting. I am in eighth place with 52 points. Wayne, due to all the DNFs (which mean no points are
awarded), is in 17th
place with 13 points. So I have
Wayne crushed, plus officially he hasn’t beaten me in a kart race yet. Jeff, I am 1-2 against him in the series.
Jeff has a chance at moving up maybe a couple of spots, but the real fast
karters have 100, 96, and 73 points (they still have to drop a race), so it is
highly unlike he can get third place in the series. With a couple of breaks
(people DNFing, etc), I could end up as high as sixth place or so in my first
season. Not bad for a rookie. But more importantly, I still
have a shot at beating Jeff.
In
the practice session right before qualifying, I run my fastest time ever, a
44.24, which is a couple of hundredths faster than Jeff ran in his practice
session. So
I start thinking in my head…..hummm…if I can keep Jeff behind me in
qualifying, there is a chance that in his efforts to catch me, he could crash in
traffic and DNF, and then I would be the points king over him and Wayne.
Then I will be the World Champion between the three of us. Feeling cocky that my private lesson has helped me get a lot faster, I
bet Jeff 20 bucks that I qualify ahead of him.
I would bet Wayne, but I would probably have to spot him two seconds or
so to make it fair. Jeff takes the
bet, and off to qualifying.
I
qualified at 44.27. I was hoping for even faster, as I am running on new tires,
but I am pretty happy with that time, which is a good .75 seconds off or so off
of my previous times in qualifying sessions before the private lesson. I qualify
7th out of 15. Wayne,
not taking a private lesson, ends up qualifying last in 15th
position, with a 46.07. Unfortunately
for me, Jeff somehow runs his first lap almost .50 seconds faster than he ever
has, running an incredible 43.54. I felt like protesting that it
was a scoring error on Jeff’s timer, as it was an abnormally fast time even
for Jeff. Especially
since he took the pole position from the guys who are leading the series.
Anyhow, I end up losing 20 bucks to Jeff……and he is the first of us
to get on the pole for a race.
Qualifying Times for the Qualifying Racing.
1.
Jeff Littrell - 43.54
2. Vince Castell - 43.57
3. Bob Faieta - 43.76
4. Steve Bennett - 43.93
5. Dave DeGraw - 44.01
6. Matt Smith - 44.05
7. Doug Hayashi - 44.27
8. Oscar Benedetti - 44.29
9. Greg Smith - 44.44
10. Bryant Kreadon - 44.45
11. Mark Volen - 44.75
12. Chris Len - 45.34
13. Andre Cavin - 45.49
14. Brad Smith - 45.69
15. Wayne Mello - 46.07
Okay, so off to the qual race. How we finish in the qual race determines how we grid for the final race. It is all up to the start again. Green flag drops, and Oscar and Bryant, who are usually front runners, blow by me on the start. Damn! Bob and Vince, also front runners, blow by Jeff by the end of the first lap and he is running in 3rd place. For five laps or so, We have Oscar-Steve-Dave-Matt-Bryant-Me-Mark all in a big train, jockeying for position. Remember, everyone has the same power to weight ratio, so it is a really close battle, and we are all about 12 inches off of each other’s bumper, looking for a spot to try to make a pass. Steve and Oscar are neck and neck into a turn, and touch wheels. They spin. Dave, right behind them, spins out trying to avoid a collision. Bryant sees all this happening right in front of him, and jukes out of the way at the last second. Me, I am right on Bryant’s bumper, trying to get around him, and as soon as Bryant dodges the spins, I suddenly realize that everyone else is stopped on the track. I crash into Dave’s kart exiting the turn. Mark sees all the confusion, and gets around all of us. I try to keep my kart from stalling, but it dies on me. Then I also realize that I don’t have a right front wheel anymore, the entire rim cracked off and broke apart.
The rim is uh...destroyed from the crash
My steering column is also bent, and the steering arms are also bent. Bummer. Oscar is out of the race, Dave is out of the race, and I am out of the race. DAMN!
You know things are bad when a hacksaw is used on your kart to remove steering
column.
So Oscar, Dave, and I
start at the back of the pack for the final race, providing that KRC can repair
my kart in time. About three KRC
employees start wrenching on my car, replacing the hub, steering arms, steering
columns. It takes about 40 minutes.
After everything is put back together in record time, they seem to have a
problem aligning the kart. Rudy and
Ryan take a look at it, and they come to the conclusion that the frame is bent,
but they figure they can at least get it so I can run the final points race of
the season.
Wayne rubbing in my second crash ever in 7 years of track events. Wayne has
crashed four times this year.
During the two warm-up laps before the race, I notice that the kart is pulling to one side, especially under braking and that the steering wheel isn’t straight. Oh well….I still figure I can pick up some points, and my new goal in the last race is to pass Wayne. I pass one person, to make it to 14th position. Dave makes a mistake and I get by him for 13th. I dive on the inside on Brad for 12th, but I botch the exit by missing a shift, and Dave and Brad get right back by me, so I am in 14th. Damn. I start chasing Brad down again, and am getting close, and I get more aggressive. After all, I have to pass Wayne in this race, and I can see Wayne, and I still have a good chance of passing him. Time to start making my move on Brad…..but I brake a little too deep in the chicane, and since the steering and braking are a little off and pull the kart to one side……I spin and stall the kart. What an amateur! Oh well….the season is now over, and NO POINTS for this race. So I probably made a stupid, rash decision, in trying to chase Wayne down and humiliate him. Jeff makes it to yet ANOTHER 3rd place finish, and is tasting champagne for the 2nd race in a row. I should have just completed the race, picked up some points, and I woulda coulda shoulda have had a shot at finishing around 7th or so in the series, instead of finishing 10th. Jeff finishes 4th, and Wayne finishes 16th. The new season doesn't start until January, so there is plenty of time for you to go out and buy a Tony Kart from Rudy ($7500 or so), and start doing some practice before the new season. We are expecting a bunch of newcomers, as Karting seems to be taking off across the country....especially here in Southern California. Wayne and I plan to be doing MUCH better next season, and we will be practicing hard in the off season. For all you new karters coming into the series, at least Wayne and I know we can kick your rookie ass, as we now have a season of racing under our belts......
The Final Standings are listed below.
| Fall 1999 KRC Cup Final Championship Standings | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amago | Irvine | Willow | Streets of Willow | Willow | ||||||||
| Driver | Kart # | Qual/Finish | Points | Qual/Finish | Points | Qual/Finish | Points | Qual/Finish | Points | Qual/Finish | Points | |
| 1 | Bob Faieta | # 2 | 2nd/1st | 25 | 3rd/1st | 50 | 1st/1st | 76 | 2nd/2nd * | 76 | 3rd/1st | 101 |
| 2 | Vince Castell | #77 | 1st/3rd | 24 | 1st/2nd | 49 | 2nd/2nd | 73 | DNE/DNE * | 73 | 2nd/2nd | 97 |
| 3 | Oscar Bendetti | #11 | 4th/2nd | 24 | 4th/3rd | 47 | 3rd/3rd | 70 | 1st/1st | 96 | 8th/DNS * | 96 |
| 4 | Jeff Littrell | #95 | 14th/DNF * | 0 | 11th/6th | 20 | DNQ/10th | 36 | 5th/3rd | 59 | 1st/3rd | 83 |
| 5 | David DeGraw | # 3 | 5th/5th | 21 | 10th/5th | 42 | 5th/DNS * | 42 | 6th/4th | 64 | 5th/8th | 82 |
| 6 | Steve Bennett | # 7 | 9th/9th | 17 | 7th/7th | 36 | 7th/6th | 56 | DNE/DNE * | 56 | 4th/7th | 75 |
| 7 | Andre Cavin | #50 | 13th/12th * | 0 | DNQ/11th | 15 | 9th/9th | 32 | 8th/7th | 51 | 13th/9th | 68 |
| 8 | Scott Brink | # 1 | 9th/8th | 17 | 9th/4th | 40 | 5th/5th | 60 | DNE/DNE | 60 | DNE/DNE * | 60 |
| 9 | Mark Volen | # 9 | 7th/7th | 19 | 12th/DNF | 19 | 6th/7th | 38 | DNE/DNE * | 38 | 11th/7th | 57 |
| 10 | Doug Hayashi | #55 | DNE/DNE | 0 | 16th/12th | 14 | 8th/8th | 32 | 7th/6th | 52 | 7th/DNF * | 52 |
| 11 | Bryant Kreadon | # 5 | 6th/4th | 22 | 5th/DNF | 22 | 4th/4th | 44 | 4th/DNF | 44 | 10th/DNF * | 44 |
| 12 | Greg Smith | # 39 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE * | 0 | 9th/5th | 21 | 9th/5th | 42 |
| 13 | Jim Wilkey | #14 | 8th/6th | 20 | 13th/8th | 38 | DNE/DNE | 38 | DNE/DNE | 38 | DNE/DNE * | 38 |
| 14 | Joey Giambra | #41 | 10th/10th | 16 | 8th/10th | 32 | DNE/DNE | 32 | DNE/DNE | 32 | DNE/DNE * | 32 |
| 15 | Giacamo Mattioli | #51 | 10th/11th | 15 | DNE/DNE | 15 | 12th/11th | 30 | 10th/DNF | 30 | DNE/DNE * | 30 |
| 16 | Wayne Mello | #54 | DNE/DNE * | 0 | 15th/13th | 13 | 13th/DNF | 13 | 11th/DNF | 13 | 15th/11th | 28 |
| 17 | Dan Miller | #98 | 11th/13 | 13 | 14th/DNF | 13 | 10th/12th | 27 | DNE/DNE | 27 | DNE/DNE * | 27 |
| 18 | Matt Smith | #19 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE * | 0 | 6th/4th | 22 |
| 19 | Philip Conte | # 4 | 4th/DNF | 0 | 3rd/9th | 17 | DNE/DNE | 17 | DNE/DNE | 17 | DNE/DNE * | 17 |
| 20 | Chris Len | #62 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE * | 0 | 12th/10th | 16 |
| 21 | Brad Smith | #64 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | 14th/12th | 14 |
| 22 | Vernon Wnek | #99 | DNE/DNE | 0 | 17th/14th | 12 | 11th/DNF | 12 | DNE/DNE | 12 | DNE/DNE * | 12 |
| 23 | Chris Kiteliner | #26 | 12th/DNF | 0 | 6th/DNF | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | 3rd/DNF | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 |
| 23 | Antonio ? | #81 | DNE/DNE | 0 | 18th/DNF | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 |
| 23 | Bruce Guthrie | #31 | 14th/DNS | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 | DNE/DNE | 0 |
* Indicates the one race thrown away (allowed by Fall 99 Series Rules)